Corona Headquarters Decides to Reopen All Schools Except Red Zone Areas

Iran’s Minister of Education announced the reopening of schools in cities that are not in a red zone status regarding coronavirus spread.

Mohsen Haji Mirzaei said on Thursday, December 25th, in a television interview that “studies show there is no decisive effect between school reopening and coronavirus spread.”

He did not reference the source of these studies and continued by saying that keeping students away from school has multiple consequences.

Iran is one of the first countries where coronavirus spread severely, and according to official statistics from the Ministry of Health, more than 56,000 people have died from this virus in Iran so far; although vital statistics and statements by some Iranian officials suggest the actual death toll is higher than this figure.

While numerous warnings have been issued about another wave of coronavirus spread in the country, Haji Mirzaei said that with adherence to health protocols and guidelines, the principle is that schools should be open.

He stated that whenever specialists conclude that reopening schools in certain areas would result in consequences, we will comply, but now the Corona Headquarters has decided that education should be in-person.

The Minister of Education further stated that schools should be open in all areas except red zones and administrative and executive staff should be present in schools.

Again, without citing sources for the studies, he said “international studies” indicate that if technical infrastructure, software, and hardware for remote education are fully available and students’ conditions, teachers’ abilities, and families’ support are good, education can be delivered with 50 percent quality.

He concluded that some provinces in the country do not have access to these tools.

Previously, Rezvan Hakimzadeh, Deputy Director of Primary Education at the Ministry of Education, had stated that 3 million and 225 thousand students are unable to join the “Shad” network due to not having a tablet or smartphone and are facing the risk of “educational dropout.”

The Shad network was launched by the Iranian government after the coronavirus outbreak in Iran and school closures, for remote education of students.

Based on the latest reports from the Ministry of Health, currently only a few cities in Mazandaran and Golestan provinces are in red zone status.

Therefore, if the Corona Headquarters’ decision to reopen schools is implemented, almost all provinces should have in-person teaching.

Mr. Haji Mirzaei said there should not be more than 10 students in each class.

The reopening of schools comes while on Wednesday of this week, Saeed Namaki announced his opposition to reopening schools.

He expressed concern about the possibility of creating a new wave of coronavirus spread in the country.

A few months ago, coronavirus spread in the country intensely peaked and all provinces were placed in red zone status.

Many European countries, the United States, Russia, China, East Asian countries, Arab countries, Israel, Turkey, and Azerbaijan have begun vaccinating their citizens; however, Ayatollah Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, recently announced that he has banned the purchase of “American and British” vaccines.

Iran says that in addition to producing domestic vaccines, it is also cooperating with Cuba to produce vaccines. Some Iranian officials have warned that the production of this vaccine will not be possible in the short term.

Source: Radio Farda